At a glance

•Star: Darby quarterback Nate Green, who was 5-for-9 passing for 81 yards and rushed 19 times for 74 yards and two scores.

•Key play: Green's 1-yard touchdown run with 2:26 left ended a 17-play, 66-yard drive that sealed the Panthers’ win

•Key stat: Darby rushed for 238 yards.

Those who've faced the Hilliard Darby High School football team this season have had to endure a physical running game that's capable of wiping out big chunks of clock.

The Panthers needed one more lengthy drive to take care of host Dublin Scioto on Oct. 18, with first place on the line in the OCC-Cardinal Division.

Darby (7-1, 5-0) used more than eight minutes of the fourth quarter with a 17-play, 66-yard scoring drive to wrap up a 28-17 victory. The win sets up a championship showdown next week with Westerville Central, which also improved to 5-0 in the league with a 54-35 victory over Westerville South on Oct. 17.

"That's just our offense right there," said running back Anton Trapasso, who finished with 87 yards on 21 carries. "Our line really got together. It's all on them. They stuck together and pulled us through. That's who should get all the gratitude."

Trapasso carried five times for 20 yards during the winning drive, which ended with quarterback Nate Green's 1-yard touchdown run with 2 minutes, 26 seconds left. Green added 74 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 19 carries. He also was 5-for-9 passing for 81 yards.

"Obviously, that drive was huge for us because they had the ability to score quickly," said Darby coach John Santagata, whose team had 238 yards rushing. "To keep their offense off the field is exactly what we needed at that time."

Scioto (5-3, 3-2) got its offense rolling in the second quarter with a pair of long drives.

Quarterback Nathan Densel completed five of seven passes, including a 5-yard touchdown pass to Justin Schafer, to cap a 15-play, 87-yard scoring drive that cut Darby's lead to 14-10 with 1:24 left in the first half.

Sam Crosa kicked a 29-yard field goal after a 70-yard drive with 8:47 left in the second quarter.

Scioto took that energy into the second half when Darius McDonald returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to give the Irish a 17-10 lead.

From there, Scioto coach Karl Johnson watched his offense drop passes and fail to convert a number of third downs.

"We had a chance to make plays and I think we had three or four drops and those were big," he said. "We know if we don't turn the ball over we're going to have an opportunity to win and we lost that battle 3-1."

Darby scored its first two touchdowns following Irish fumbles.

For Scioto, Densel completed 18 of 29 passes for 168 yards and an interception. He also rushed 8 times for 52 yards.